Making a meal out of food prices

Posted: July 16, 2009

Matthew Stern

There has been much comment, recently, about the pricing of foodstuff in South Africa.  Government has launched various investigations yet the reasons for the high cost of basic foods, relative to other parts of the world, remains largely unexplained.  Strangely - no-one seems to have mentioned the fact that Government policy, in the form of high customs duties on many agricultural goods, may be a contributing factor.  

To test this hypothesis I have undertaken a culinary experiment of my own.  Nothing too tricky - just a simple bowl of pasta with a tomato, onion and bacon sauce.    Onions attract a 15% customs duty; so my single onion cost me an extra 30 cents in taxes, sliced or diced.  Fried in oil, with a duty of 10%, added a further 10 cents to my meal.    A can of tinned tomatos attracts a whopping duty of 30%, or R3.60 a can; and a pack of bacon cost me an additional 15%, or R3. The pasta itself is taxed at 30% or R3 extra for a 500g box. 

So a basic meal which should have cost me R45 to prepare, instead costs as much as R55. To wash this bad taste down with a glass of wine or coffee would cost me an additional 20% in customs duties; while a healthy glass of orange juice is taxed even higher, at 25%.

Let the investigations continue.  But in the meantime, there are some very direct ways in which the government itself can reduce the cost of many basic foods for the immediate benefit of all consumers.